Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Thanks so much to Kat for this sweet award. Anytime someone passes one on to me I really am very humbled. I really don't think there is anything special here but I am having fun blogging and I am soooo enjoying getting to know so many people with so many different talents and interests. Thanks again Kat.

I also received this wonderful box of goodies that I won at Antique Paperie. I couldn't believe how much was in that box. It is always fun to get stuff in the mail. So thank you for all the wonderful things you sent Sherry.Gotta go and get ready to watch the Memphis Tigers play Basketball.It is so exciting that they are ranked number 1 right now. I remember when they were number 1 in 1983(I was still in high school), when Keith Lee, and Andre Turner played for them. Those names will mean nothing to some of ya'll but those of you who know them I am sure you remember that team. Fun times at the Mid-South Coliseum. :)EDIT: We won 89 Memphis 77 Houston Go Tigers!!!!Blessings,Linda

Monday, January 28, 2008

I went to Little Rock this weekend for a soccer tournament for Chandler's team. I went with my friend Jodie who also has a son on the team. My dh and other two little ones stayed home. It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend for me and it was. We had a little ice going over the Tennessee-Arkansas bridge and over a few more bridges in Arkansas but other than that it was an easy trip just a little cold sitting out there watching the games. We saw 27 Dresses at the movie theater and had a blast. While on the way home my hubby called me to tell me that Carson had a fever and Cameron wasn't doing well either so I stayed home with them today from my preschool teaching job as my kiddos needed me and I am sure you can tell by the pictures of them climbing on the stair rail and laying out on the chair in their goofy clothes flanked by their spiderman pajama tops, they were REAL sick. :) No fever today so I almost felt like I was playing hookie. It was a good day though. I didn't put on a stitch of make up or fix my hair and I have been able to make homemade cookies and do some cleaning. I even took some pictures of the house so I thougt I'd post them too.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

It is rainy and very cold. It began raining last night and every once in a while I would wake up in the middle of the night to a drip that was right outside my bedroom window, of course it had to be the one closest to my side of the bed too. It would take me a while to fall back asleep and then I would stir and once again hear, drip, drip, drip. It was the most annoying noise, an almost drive you insane kind of sound. It was constant, it was predictable in the timing of the drip, it was loud some times and soft other times but it was there and I was growing increasingly frustrated with it. As I was reading my bible a few minutes ago in my room where the drip is still present, I came across the following verse in Proverbs, 27:15-16

A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

Can I get an OUCH!!! Wow I really never liked this verse before in fact if the truth be told I just skimmed over it VERY quickly when ever I saw it but today was different. As I sat on my bed experiencing the constant, insistant, drip I became very overwhelmed with conviction from the Lord about my attituted toward my husband. If I annoy him like this drip has annoyed me for a few short hours then he should be in a home somewhere very far from me and my at times "dripping" attitude!!(especially after 20 years of marriage!) Dont' ya just love a timely word from our Lord???

Lord, Thank you for my husband. Help me be an encourager and respecter of my husband and not drown him with a constant annoying dripping attitude.

Blessings,LindaEdit::: My sweet husband emailed this to me from work after he read this post:

You are not a leaky faucet----just the best wife/friend in the world.........

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Interesting week here. I have not been able to sleep because my dh has informed me that I snore and that I need to buy some nose strips of some sort to curtail this new annoying problem. I don't think it is new though, I just think he has been coming to bed later than me thanks to college basketball (especially the Memphis Tigers) which means I am falling asleep first and usually it is the other way around. Needless to say each time he lovingly pushes me to get me to stop snoring I am awake and it takes another hour for me to solve the world's problems before I can fall asleep. ( hehe) Then my sweet Lab's lips(if they have them?) were swollen, I noticed it at night and thought she would be fine but much to my dismay I woke up after a nudging from dh to find my dog's eyes were even swollen shut in fact her whole face looked like a balloon. YIKES! The emergency vet said I could give her benedryl I was so thankful for the information over the phone however, I did not have benedryl so off to the local neighborhood wal-mart to obtain the face normalizer for the dog, did I mention it was 3:30a.m.? Did it work you ask? No! She began doing weird stuff like getting in the bath tub (with no water) hiding under the bed and whinning. So off the the vet we were early this morning to find that she had a severe allergic reaction to something, was given some steroids, and now we are home. She is doing better for those who might actually care.(hehe) My middle one, Carson asked what she was allergic to. Funny question that will never be answered because this dog will eat anything from a plastic dinosaur head to power ranger arms and legs to a bar of soap and of course her normal dog food and anything she can find in the trash if she can get to it. So for now I will watch her every move as if I really needed anything else to add to my already busy schedule.

On a really sweet and very profound note, my 4yr old, Cameron told me on the way to school today that "the bad guys had to put Jesus on the cross" I asked him why he thought that and he very matter of factly replied "if they didn't then he couldn't come live in our heart". As I pondered the day I had to smile....with all the crazy, bizzare things that can occur in a day there really is only one thing that matters... Does Jesus live in your heart?

Friday, January 11, 2008

My darling Cameron (4yrs old) was watching an episode of batman. My sweet husband had just come in from work and was making the rounds with each of the children and myself so he was trying to talk to Cameron and find out about his day. After a few minutes of trying to communicate with him he sweetly looked up at his dad and said "hey dad, let's play the quiet game" we both just cracked up.

Xandra from Heart of Service created this award to honor those Blogs that are "must reads".In her own words:"So here's to all the blogs that you've discovered that you can't possibly live without. They make you laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time you read a post. They give you a thrill as you see them loading into your browser and you get an equally satisfying thrill when you see that they have commented on your blog."

I am truly humbled. When I write I never really think that what I say will impact or mean anything to anyone I just write about my family or what I am thinking or what God has taught me. Quite boring I would think but I love writing and love, love, love reading what everyone else has to say on their blogs. Thank you so much, Denise for thinking of me. I would like to pass this award on to my friend Christina, a homeschooling mom who loves the Lord and inspires me to "dig deeper", to my sister Sandy, the creative one in the family who also loves the Lord and who I want to be like when I grow up(even though I am older than her) and to Kelly, a new blog I have found written by a young woman who decorates beautifully, loves the Lord, and is on a journey to begin a family. There are so many more that I could list that I am inspired by on a daily basis as well that is the hard part about receiving an award... choosing whom to pass it on to.

I was driving and listening to our local Christian talk radio station the other day. I do not remember the exact show I was listening to. It may have been John MacArthur but again I am not sure, however, I heard something that I stopped and wrote down as soon as I was at a red light.

He said to guard your life against spiritual erosion. Erosion is slow, subtle, and silent. Wow! What a statement. When I am not guarded before I know it I have allowed things in my life that a year ago would never have even been a thought. Of course this is how Satan works. If robbing a bank is not your forte then he certainly won't hit you there. It could be something as simple as what we watch on T.V. I have to step back and ask myself are there shows that I watch today and find humorous that a year or two ago I would have been appalled at the mere existance of such trash? If so, than I have been deceived. Very slowly, but deceived none the less.

There is a verse in Genesis where the Lord is talking to Cain.

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. Genesis 4:7 .

I am constantly reminding myself of this verse... it(sin) desires to have me.. I am not going to give Satan too much credit here oh yes he is full of evil and the Father of all lies but I am to be guarded at all times and when I am not is when I am weak and fall into my own sinful pit of selfishness, self pity and discontentment. Not sure if I have made a bit of sense here but I do know I loved the erosion picture and am glad I heard it and wanted to share it.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Expectations..... When you are a young girl you expect to grow up and get married and have no problems because after all you married the perfect prince charming right?.... When you get married you expect to have kids....(Not lose 3 babies before you were able to hold them.) oh... and of course they will be kids that will do everything you say with a "yes mother dear" at the end of every request. Years down the road you just expect to be the same weight you were when you got married because that is how it is on T.V.(hehe) You expect to have friends and always get along... Even as a grown woman you expect to be liked because after all you are a nice person right??Reality check...Does our reality ever match up with our expectations???? I don't know about yours but mine don't. Oh don't get me wrong sometimes they seem to but in all reality I just set myself up time after time to be let down because I allow the enemy to decieve me into thinking that my expectations should be anywhere but on the Father above. He really is very crafty and deceitful isn't he? I don't know about you but this year I am impressed to let everyone off the "hook" of my expectations. They cannot meet them just as I cannot meet theirs. The father is the only one who can fulfill my every need. This also brings to mind the question, "What motivates me?" Why do I do the things that I do or don't do? Is it to impress someone? undermine someone? Do I have quiet time to check it off my list? Do I talk to my children and husband in the same manner at home and in public? Do I go to church because the bible tells us not to forsake the fellowship with other christians or do I go because I have to check it off the list as well? Do I believe that the bible is the inspired word of God and that He loves me all the time or only when I am "good" and things are going my way? These (and more) are all questions that I have been asking myself today. I want to be REAL not just when it is convienent or easy I want to be REAL all the time.Holy Father, I am asking you to teach me to be REAL. Not hypocritical, judegmental, or have a holier than thou attitude. I want people to see me and know that I live for you please teach me how. I love people so much and want to be liked so much please change my attitude to care more about what you think about me than anyone else and to do all things unto you not men.